LOS ANGELES — With a knack for passing that already exceeds that of many of his veteran counterparts and a love for step-back 3s, Lonzo Ball has drawn attention mainly for his offense.

However, Coach Luke Walton has gone out of his way to praise the rookie point guard defensively.

“I think a lot of young guys that are drafted as high as him aren’t really concerned with that end of the floor,” Walton said. “And whether it’s jumping into the ball handler or trying to fight over screens … all the little things that come from playing on that end of the court, with effort, he’s doing really well.”

While the Lakers rank 29th out of 30 teams in offensive efficiency, it is their defense that has surprisingly carried much of the load early in the season. Entering Tuesday’s game, the Lakers were 11th in defensive efficiency, allowing 100.9 points per 100 possessions.

While those numbers are unlikely to hold – the Lakers were the league’s worst defensive team in 2016-17 – Walton indicated Ball deserves much of the credit for the team’s ability to force turnovers.

“He’s got great anticipation and great hands as a player already so he’s able to get a lot of loose balls for us,” Walton said, “or come down and strip offensive rebounds that guys don’t really see him hanging around, which gets us extra possessions obviously.”

In his first six games, Ball averaged 1.3 steals per game.

One area where Ball’s aggressiveness has perhaps hurt the Lakers’ defense is on the offensive glass. Ball acknowledged last week that his eagerness to snare offensive rebounds hurts the Lakers in defensive transition.

The Lakers’ rule is that everyone gets back on defense, but it’s hard not to make exceptions when Ball has so much success on the boards.

“If he goes and gets it,” Walton said, “we are not going to say anything. If he goes and we give up a fast-break layup then we are going to call him out on it. So kind of use your judgment.”

Walton acknowledged that isn’t entirely fair to Ball and that it creates a tough balance for the Lakers’ coaches.

He takes solace in the fact that at least one other team deals with a similar double-edged sword.

“It is similar with what I imagine OKC coaches deal with (Russell) Westbrook,” Walton said. “You don’t want your point guard crashing the offensive glass, but he is really good at it so you are not going to take that away from him.”

STAN BY ME

Stan Van Gundy said the Pistons’ decision not to re-sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope over the summer was a matter of circumstance rather than a sign that they were no longer interested in his services.

Caldwell-Pope went on to sign a one-year, $18 million contract with the Lakers. He has slid into the starting shooting guard role and was averaging 10.8 points and 4.5 rebounds going into Tuesday’s game.

“It really wasn’t our decision any more than it was his decision,” said Van Gundy, Detroit’s president of basketball operations as well as coach. “We never made a decision to move on from KCP. We were going through the process, they were looking around, his agent, taking their time a little bit.”

Then, he said, the Pistons had an opportunity to trade for Avery Bradley.

“We jumped on it,” Van Gundy said. “It was a guy we already liked. There was never a time where we sat down as a staff and decided to move on from KCP. We had an opportunity present itself before he was willing to make a decision.”

Bill Oram covers the Los Angeles Lakers for the Southern California News Group. He covered the Utah Jazz for the Salt Lake Tribune. He is the (usually) bearded guy in the background wearing a University of Montana hat.

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